So...there have been 6 no hitters and it’s not even the end of May. Oddly enough, 2 against SEA, TEX, and CLE. A lot of national pundits are opining that it’s the K or HR approach in today’s game but I’m not buying that. Maybe it’s something to do with the ball? Idk. May just be a weird year.
It's definitely something to do with the ball. K-rates have been climbing for a while with specialized pitching, and indifference to K's. However prior to Covid league wide batting average was consistently around .250-.255 (.248 in 18 was the lowest) for about a decade without significant variance, it currently stands at .236. Averages have been falling overall for a while, but not to this degree. Not a full season, so as the year goes on that could correct itself to a degree, but it's still a gigantic sample and a large outlier from recent results.
Pressly has only given up runs in 3 of the 16 games he's pitched. Two of the three games he gave up runs is where they had him pitch two innings.
at the level of an entire team for a fourth of a season, that is an enormous gap. Especially from first to fourth
What coach wants a player to play at full speed? What coach does not want to see his player succeed? And like Buck said why is still giving signals at that point in the game? Why is taking a pitch at that time playing a certain way?
I think k rates are up partially due to hitters being out of sync. At least I think that is a major factor for minor leaguers.
Crazy thing about these no hitters is half these guys were available in the offseason. Musgrove was traded to the Padres Carlos Rodon was a free agent (signed for $3M... which kills me to think about) Corey Kluber was a free agent (signed for $11M)
Also, offensive numbers start trending up as the season goes along...warm weather, replacement pitchers, etc...
SB Nation Reacts: Looking at the Athletics Potential Relocation https://www.crawfishboxes.com/2021/...looking-at-the-athletics-potential-relocation
Here’s Kratz’s full quote: “And I can also tell you because I don’t care, I don’t really know anybody over there, the Colorado Rockies were doing the exact same thing in 2018, and we caught them, and we played them in the playoffs. Know how many runs they scored in a three-game playoff series in 2018? Not many people watched the NLDS. They scored two runs in the ninth inning of Game 2. They used to take a Theragun and bang it on their metal bench. And they were doing the exact same thing, from the TV. So, there you go. If you think no one else was doing it, you are wrong. The difference is, the Astros may have taken it a little too far. Maybe a little bit too far. Maybe continued to do it. Or maybe it’s just the fact that they won the World Series and everybody’s pissed about that.”
